October 06, 2015

Tony Lynes inaugural Lecture

Exciting day tomorrow. I have the daunting task of giving the inaugural Memorial Lecture for the late Tony Lynes who died a year ago. He died running to retrieve a birthday card from his car to take to a friend's birthday party. He was in a collision with a car. Previously that day he took part in a five mile charity walk. Tony was 85. I have just been looking up some of the e-mails I had from him. He sent me the one below after I was expelled from the House of Commons after telling the Secretary of State for Defence that he was sending UK soldiers to die in Helmand acting as human shields for ministers' reputations.

Tony was one of the great architects of the Welfare State which peaked in the 70s and is now being pummelled by the Tory wreaking ball.

Dear Paul,

Congratulations on your expulsion. I didn't know about it until today - I don't think it was reported in the Guardian, and I'm afraid I missed it in Hansard. The Afghan mess is appalling and obscene. There's an underlying assumption that young people who join the army must expect to be killed or injured - it's part of their employment contract which they accept voluntarily and, anyway, if they die, they are promoted to the status of "heroes" - they can't ask for more than that. And, needless to say, those who fight on the wrong side deserve to be killed and don't qualify for hero status. As for civilian "casualties", they are a regrettable but inevitable consequence. After many years of doubt, I think I am now prepared to say that I'm a pacifist - I don't think war is ever the right way to solve problems or right wrongs. But even if there were cases where war is justifiable, Afghanistan would not be one of them.

I don't know anything about expulsion. How long does it last? What do you have to do to be readmitted to the sacred precincts? Are you expelled from the building or only from the chamber? What, if anything, can your friends and disciples do to help?

Best wishes,

Tony

PS It's a bit odd, isn't it, that Ministers can tell as many lies as they like without incurring any penalty, while a Member who draws attention to their use of this freedom is promptly expelled?

Pleasing at it is to see the foremost opponent of cynical war call the murderers liars they still go on to stamp on self determination elsewhere.

War is just business to these ungrateful, inhumane lickspittles.

Is killing an innocent person unnecessarily murder? Of course it is so why do they do it? Psychologically because they are self important, thick and ill-advised. And of course they are out for themselves so that opens up all kinds of horrible possibilities when they are given power and can carelessly decide the fate of so many.

They haven't got it right for us, for Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. YET the wealth gap grows, these aren't fools. They are a nest of vipers. The more you refuse or stand up the nastier and more cunning they become.

So, you took up the Afghan war war as one of your worthy causes when so many of your colleagues ignored it or stood in the way. The ruling class and their mainstream media narrative was that it didn't matter everything was going well. They were protecting US. Which is a lie if you've any integrity in your politics. I'm glad you said it and as one of your readers consider that it does you credit.

So, murder. Its just part of the system. But its all the same in God's eyes. Parliament has such a capacity for good and ill. Sadly its much more common for the latter. Perhaps it has always been so.

Better people will prevail. I believe that. I also believe crimes have consequences. Certainly in this life but even more severely in the longer term. And therefore resistance, forward planning and the general disgust at careless careerist drones who are motivated by greed and selfish ambition is worthwhile.